It's been a while since this writer last posted here. In my last post I shared a review of ghost-hunting horror game, Demonologist. That post deserves an update as there's been a lot of controversy around the game as it suddenly and unexpectedly came out of Early Access with no fanfare or announcement. I'll get to that next year, though. Today, we're going to reflect on 2023 and I'll share with you my favourite games from the past twelve months. Starting with...
It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I am a huge horror fan; movies, books, even videogames. I just love all things horror! And of course I've played plenty of horror games over the years: F.E.A.R, Fallout, Dead By Daylight, Resident Evil, Phasmaphobia. The list goes on. So when a new horror game hit the virtual shelves earlier this year, of course I jumped on it. Rumoured to take horror to the next, fully immersive, level using Unreal Engine, I was keen to see how it stacked up compared to the reigning champion of ghostly horror games, Phasmaphobia. I will be reviewing Phasmaphobia very soon by the way but, *spoiler alert*, since it's been dethroned as reigning champ by Demonologist I'm waiting on their next big update which promises to change up a lot about the game and give it a new lease of life. For now, though, let's talk about Demonologist.
I do have what promises to be a very long, very in-depth videogame review coming soon of the hotly debated and much talked about Hogwarts Legacy. Until then, though, I'm popping in here with a quick review of the latest DLC for Two Point Campus, a game I reviewed not too long ago. This will only be a short review but don't worry, like I said, I have a full videogame review coming very soon.
Cat loving gamers across the world were eagerly awaiting the arrival of something completely different to the current crop of videogames when a little known French studio, BlueTwelve Studio, announced their latest project; third-person cat adventure game, Stray. Published in 2022 by Annapurna Interactive for Playstation and PC, Stray received an overwhelmingly positive response. The fluffy feline hero of Stray stole gamer's hearts and the game cleaned up during awards season, winning The Game Award for Best Independent Game and The Game Award for Best Debut Indie Game, and it's not hard to see why.
I am a nineties kid and being a nineties kid meant growing up alongside computers, the internet, and video games. I remember the height of entertainment being Beehive Bedlam, a game played through your Sky box on your TV. I witnessed the birth of The Sims franchise and am still playing the game in it's fourth iteration today. I recall dial-up, download speeds of days, and the original iPod in all it's chunky, clunky glory. You might be wondering why I'm telling you all of this, taking you on this walk down memory lane, but I promise you, it's all relevant. Because growing up in the nineties/early noughties means I remember a popular videogame from that era that has recently been revived and given a long overdue makeover to bring it up to today's gaming standards. In 1997 that game went by Theme Hospital, a business simulation game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts for PC. In 2018 Theme Hospital's 'spiritual sequel' was released to the world as Two Point Hospital and whilst I have played and will review this one at some point, today I want to talk about the follow-up to Two Point Hospital (no, not one of it's many DLCs either): Two Point Campus.